JP6347060B2 - Paper folding device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a paper folding apparatus.

  Regarding a paper folding device that folds paper, the following Patent Document 1 includes a guide member that guides a curved portion to a pair of folding rollers, and the guide member is pivotally supported and inserted into a paper insertion space. Since the leading end of the paper comes into contact with one end of the guide member, the other end of the guide member swings so as to press the rear end of the paper. It is described that the curved portion of the paper can be properly guided to the pair of folding rollers easily by the guide member.

JP 2012-158409 A

However, in the paper folding apparatus described in Patent Document 1, since the guide member that directly interferes with the paper to be conveyed is installed on the paper conveyance path, the guide member may depend on the situation of rigidity, curl, and the like of the paper. There is a possibility that paper jams may occur due to. For example, when a thin paper or a paper with a curled tip is used, there is a possibility that the paper may be entangled with the guide member when the paper is transported and become a paper jam, or the paper front may be broken or damaged. .

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and without placing a guide member or the like directly interfering with the conveyed paper on the paper conveyance path, regardless of the situation of the rigidity of the paper, curl, etc. An object of the present invention is to provide a paper folding device that can be folded properly.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a folding position is determined by abutting a first sheet abutting member with a sheet conveying means for conveying a sheet, and a leading edge of the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying means, and the folding position is determined. The curved portion including the first folding roller pair is sandwiched between the nips of the first folding roller pair so that the paper is folded, and the second folding is performed by abutting the first folded paper against the second paper abutting member. The position is determined, and a curved portion including the folding position is sandwiched between the nip portions of the second folding roller pair so that the sheet can be folded and folded in three, and the inner trifold is performed. At the time of the second fold, at least when the paper is folded with the curved portion interposed therebetween, air is directed from the inside of the curved portion toward the front end of the paper that is folded inward by the first fold. Spraying is characterized in that it comprises an air blowing means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the folding position is determined by abutting the first sheet abutting member with the sheet conveying means for conveying the sheet and the leading edge of the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying means. The curved portion including the first folding roller pair is sandwiched between the nip portions of the first folding roller pair so that the paper is folded, and the second folding is performed by abutting the first folded paper against the second paper abutting member. The position is determined, and a curved portion including the folding position is sandwiched between the nip portions of the second folding roller pair so that the sheet can be folded and folded in three, and the inner trifold is performed. In the second folding of the time, after the leading edge of the sheet hits the second sheet abutting member, air is directed from the inside of the curved portion toward the leading edge of the sheet folded inward by the first folding. The An air spray timing control means for spraying is provided.

According to a second aspect of the invention, the sheet folding Ri apparatus according to claim 1 Symbol placement,
The paper folding device is in operation and has a continuous air blowing control means for blowing air continuously by the air blowing means during the folding operation.

According to a third aspect of the invention, the sheet folding Ri apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said air blowing means comprises at least a air nozzle for ejecting air, the compressed air supply means for supplying compressed air to the air nozzle, the compressed air The pressure adjusting means for adjusting the pressure is provided.

According to the invention of claim 1, wherein, when the paper tip folded inwardly by the folding of the first of folding the second, without breaking corners, it is possible to fold the paper properly.

According to the invention described in claim 4, when the air blowing is configured to stop except when necessary, it is efficient and can prevent the paper conveyance from being adversely affected when the air blowing is not required. .

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the air blowing control is simplified by performing the control of blowing the air continuously during the folding operation.

According to the invention described in claim 3 , since the pressure of the air to be blown can be limited to a predetermined level or less by using the pressure adjusting means, the air is continuously blown during the folding operation without adversely affecting the paper conveyance. Is possible. As a result, air blowing control is simplified.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a paper gluing device using a paper folding device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the folding method of the paper by the said paper folding apparatus. It is a figure which shows the folding method of the paper by the said paper folding apparatus. It is a usage condition figure of the paper folding device. It is a usage condition figure of the paper folding device. It is a usage condition figure of the paper folding device. It is a usage condition figure concerning other embodiments of the paper folding device. It is a usage condition figure concerning other embodiments of the paper folding device. It is a usage condition figure concerning other embodiments of the paper folding device. It is a figure which shows the folding method of the paper by the said paper folding apparatus. It is a principal part enlarged view of an air spraying means. It is a use mode figure of the conventional paper folding apparatus. It is a principal part enlarged view of an air spraying means. It is a principal part enlarged view of the conventional paper folding apparatus. It is a principal part enlarged view of an air spraying means.

[Overall configuration of paper gluing device]
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a paper gluing device using a paper folding device according to the present invention. The paper gluing device is a device for folding a paper into two or three or more and sealing it with an adhesive.

In FIG. 1, the sheet gluing device includes a first transport unit X1 whose first transport direction is the direction of arrow F1, a folding unit X2 disposed at the transport downstream end of the first transport unit X1, and the folding unit. The second transport unit (not shown) having a direction perpendicular to the first transport direction F1 from the part X2 as a second transport direction.

 The first transport unit X1 includes, from the upstream side in the first transport direction F1, a sheet stacking unit 10 that stacks unfolded sheets P, and a sheet feeding mechanism that feeds the sheets P of the sheet stacking unit 10 one by one. 12, a transport mechanism 13 that transports the unfolded sheet P in the first transport direction F <b> 1, a pair of perforation processing mechanisms 14 disposed on the transport mechanism 13, and a first of the perforation processing mechanism 14. And a pair of adhesive application mechanisms 15 disposed in the vicinity of the downstream side in the conveying direction F1.

The pair of adhesive application mechanisms 15 are arranged at predetermined intervals in a direction orthogonal to the first conveyance direction F1, and can be adjusted in positions in directions orthogonal to the first conveyance direction F1, respectively. The unfolded sheet is fixed at positions corresponding to both ends along the first transport direction F1. The pair of perforation processing mechanisms 14 are also arranged at predetermined intervals in a direction orthogonal to the first conveyance direction F1 and can be adjusted in position in directions orthogonal to the first conveyance direction F1, respectively. It is fixed at a position in the vicinity of the inner side of the paper with respect to the adhesive application position by the adhesive application mechanism 15. In FIG. 1, the paper stacking unit 10 is provided with a stacking table 17 that can be moved up and down.

 The folding unit X2 temporarily folds the sheet fed in the first transport direction F1 by the folding mechanism 20 that folds the sheet in two or three, the intermediate transport mechanism 30 that feeds the folded paper, and the intermediate transport mechanism 30. And the direction change part 27 which changes direction in the 2nd conveyance direction in the unit of 1 sheet is provided. It is also possible to arrange a cross conveyor as the direction changing unit 27.

[Configuration of paper folding device]
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the folding mechanism 20 of the folding unit X2 as a paper folding device includes a pair of upper and lower first and second folding trays 25 and 26, and the first and second folding trays 25. , 26 is composed of four first to fourth folding rollers 21, 22, 23, 24 as sheet conveying means 60 (folding means). The folding trays 25 and 26 are respectively formed with paper insertion spaces 25b and 26b into which the paper P is inserted, and a paper abutting member with which the leading edge of the paper P abuts in each of the paper insertion spaces 25b and 26b. 25a and 26a are provided so that the position can be changed. The folding rollers 21 to 24 are adjacent to each other and form a nip portion for folding. The combination in which the adjacent second folding roller 22 and the third folding roller 23 form a nip portion is the first folding roller pair, and the combination in which the third folding roller 23 and the fourth folding roller 24 form the nip portion is the second. This is called a pair of folding rollers.

According to this folding mechanism 20, by changing the position of the sheet abutting members 25a, 26a, or by arranging a guide member 29 having an arcuate guide surface at the upper end entrance of the lower second folding tray 26. The paper can be folded into various forms such as a V-shaped fold, an inner tri-fold, or a Z-shaped fold.

In the present embodiment, in addition to the basic configuration as the paper folding device, as shown in FIG. 4, an air blowing means 50 (air nozzle 51) that blows air toward the nip portion of the pair of folding rollers in the folding mechanism 20. In particular, the inner trifold in which the air blowing means 50 is most effective will be described in detail below.

[Outline of Inner Tri-Folding]
2 and 3 show an example in which the paper P is folded inward by the folding mechanism 20. In FIG. 2 showing a developed view, the sheet P is formed by folding inwardly by first and second fold lines q1 and q2 parallel to each other, and the first, second and third fold pieces P1, P2 and P3. have.
The third fold piece P3 is folded by the second fold line q2 so that the first fold piece P1 is located above the second fold piece P2 and further above the third fold piece P3. . FIG. 3 is a view showing a state after the processing of the sheet P folded inward by the above processing step.

4A to 4C show a setting state and a process in the case of the inner trifold. The position of the sheet abutting member 25a of the upper first folding tray 25 is set to a position corresponding to the total length of the first and second folding pieces P1 and P2, and the lower second folding tray. The position of the 26 sheet abutting member 26a is set to a position corresponding to the length of the second folded piece P2. That is, as shown in FIG. 4A, the paper P conveyed in the first conveyance direction F1 is fed into the nip portion between the first and second folding rollers 21 and 22, and first, the upper first When the paper is fed into the folding tray 25 and further fed by the first and second folding rollers 21 and 22 after the leading end of the paper P comes into contact with the paper abutting member 25a of the upper folding tray 25, the paper is fed. P is folded along the second fold line q2, and the second fold line q2 is sandwiched between the nip portions of the first fold roller pair (22, 23) as shown in FIG. 4B. It is fed into the folding tray 26 of.

 In the lower second folding tray 26, after the second fold line q2 portion comes into contact with the second paper abutting member 26a, it is further fed by the second folding roller pair (23, 24). In this case, the first fold line q1 is folded, and the fold line q1 is sandwiched by the nip portion between the third folding roller 23 and the fourth folding roller 24 as shown in FIG. 4C. The inner three-fold state is conveyed to the intermediate conveyance unit 30. That is, by being folded at the first and second fold lines q1 and q2, respectively, the inner three-fold state is obtained and supplied to the intermediate conveyance unit 30.

[Configuration of air blowing means]
Next, the air blowing means 50 which is the most characteristic part of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the main part in FIG. 4B.

As shown in FIG. 7, the air blowing means 50 is provided with a plurality of air nozzles 51 along the axial direction below the second folding roller 22, and each of the air nozzles 51 has a second folding position. The tray 26 is disposed through the through hole. The air nozzle 51 is connected to a pressure adjusting means 52 such as a regulator (pressure reducing valve) through an air hose 55 and further connected to a compressed air supply means 54 such as a compressor. The air hose 55 may be a tube formed of rubber, vinyl, or the like, or may be formed of a bellows so as to be bent by a resin or the like.

Further, in addition to the above-described configuration, the compressed air supply means 54 such as a compressor and the air nozzle are controlled so that the compressed air sprayed from the air nozzle 51 can be controlled at a predetermined timing corresponding to the position of the sheet P being transferred. The control valve 53 that can be controlled by the control means is incorporated between the control valve 51 and the control unit 51.

The air nozzle 51 is attached at an angle at which air can be blown toward the nip portion constituted by the second pair of folding rollers (23, 24). More preferably, the direction and position of the air nozzle 51 may be arbitrarily adjusted in accordance with the state of the paper P (paper rigidity, curl state, etc.).

[Operation of air blowing means]
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a part of the processing process of the inner tri-fold paper, and corresponds to FIG. 4B described above. As shown in FIG. 7, the second folding position is determined by abutting the first folded sheet against the second sheet abutting member 26a, and the curved portion including the folding position is defined as the second folding roller. In the second folding in which the paper is folded by being sandwiched between the nip portions of the pair (23, 24), at least when the paper is folded by sandwiching the curved portion, the first folding is performed from the inside of the curved portion. By blowing air toward the paper leading edge Pa folded inward, even if the paper P is a thin thin paper or the paper leading edge Pa is curled, the paper leading edge Pa is caused by the air pressure. Since the sheet is pressed and extended toward the fourth folding roller 24 side, the sheet leading end portion Pa is appropriately sandwiched between the nip portions of the second folding roller pair (23, 24) as shown in FIG. On the other hand, when the air blowing means in the present invention is not provided as in the prior art, as shown in FIG. 10, the paper front end portion Pa is the nip portion of the second folding roller pair (23, 24). It may be folded back while curled to the opposite side, and as a result, as shown in FIG.

In addition, if the air is blown before the leading edge Pb of the first folded sheet is inserted into the folding tray 26, as shown in FIG. When the value exceeds a certain value, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 9, the paper leading end portion Pb is transferred in the direction opposite to the folding tray 26 to be originally transferred, and the paper cannot be properly folded.
Therefore, when the continuous air blowing control means for controlling the air to be continuously blown during the folding operation is used, the pressure of the blowing air is desirably limited to a predetermined level or less. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, it can be easily realized by using a pressure adjusting means 52 such as a regulator (pressure reducing valve).

  Further, instead of the continuous air spray control means, air spray timing control means for spraying air only at a predetermined timing at the time of paper transfer can be used. For example, the blowing of air is stopped until the paper leading edge Pb is transferred to a predetermined position, and after detecting that the paper leading edge Pb has been transferred to a predetermined position, the air blowing is started. You may comprise. Specifically, the timing at which the paper front end portion Pb is transferred to at least a position past the nip portion of the second folding roller pair (23, 24), or the paper front end portion Pb When a sensor (not shown) detects the timing of contact with the abutting member 26a, it controls to start air blowing. In this case, the control valve 53 is used to perform ON / OFF control so that air blowing can be started or stopped at the predetermined timing.

[Other Examples of Inner Tri-Folding]
The folding mechanism 20 to which the air blowing means 50 in the present invention can be applied may use a configuration as shown in FIG. 5 in addition to the configuration described above (the configuration as shown in FIG. 4). Examples thereof will be described below. The configuration shown in FIG. 4 and the configuration shown in FIG. 5 are largely different in the arrangement of the second folding tray, but the basic components are the same. The same reference numerals are used in common.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment in which the paper P is folded inward by the folding mechanism 20. In FIG. 2 showing a developed view, the sheet P is formed by folding inwardly by first and second fold lines q1 and q2 parallel to each other, and the first, second and third fold pieces P1, P2 and P3. have.
The first fold piece P1 is folded above the second fold piece P2 by the first fold line q1, and then the first and second fold pieces P1, P2 are above the third fold piece P3. Folded.

5A to 5C show setting states and processes when the paper P is folded in three by the folding mechanism 20. The positions of the first and second sheet abutting members 25a and 26a of the first and second folding trays 25 and 26 are both the length of the first folded piece P1 (the first conveying direction of the sheet P1). It is set at a position corresponding to approximately 1/3 of the entire length of F1. As shown in FIG. 5A, the sheet P conveyed in the first conveying direction F1 is fed into the nip portion between the first and second folding rollers 21 and 22, and first, in the first folding tray 25. After the leading edge of the sheet P comes into contact with the sheet abutting member 25a of the first folding tray 25, when the sheet is further fed by the first and second folding rollers 21 and 22, the sheet P is 5B so that the first fold line q1 is sandwiched between the fold portions of the second fold roller 22 and the third fold roller 23 (first fold roller pair). As described above, the sheet is fed into the second folding tray 26 through the guide member 29.

 In the second folding tray 26, after the first fold line q1 portion comes into contact with the sheet abutting member 26a and is further fed by the third and fourth folding rollers 23 and 24, the second fold line 26 will be the second. The second fold line q2 is folded at the fold line q2, and the second fold line q2 is sandwiched by the nip portion between the fourth folding roller 24 and the fifth folding roller 28 (second folding roller pair). As shown in FIG. 5C, the inner three-fold state is formed and conveyed to the intermediate conveyance unit 30. That is, the third folding side P3 is located on the lowermost side, and the first and second folding pieces P1 and P2 are sequentially stacked on the third folding side P3, and are supplied to the intermediate conveyance unit 30. is there.

[Configuration of Air Blowing Means Applied to Other Examples]
In another embodiment (folding mechanism 20 having the structure shown in FIG. 5) of the inner tri-fold process, the structure (FIG. 7) of the air blowing means 50 described in the first embodiment is used as it is. The detailed description will be omitted.

[Operation of Air Blowing Means Applied to Other Examples]
FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating a part of the processing process of the inner tri-fold paper. As shown in FIG. 5B, the second folding position is determined by abutting the first folded sheet against the second sheet abutting member 26a, and the curved portion including the folding position is defined as the second folding roller. In the second folding in which the paper is folded by being sandwiched between the nip portions of the pair (23, 28), at least when the paper is folded by sandwiching the curved portion, the first folding is performed from the inside of the curved portion. By blowing air toward the paper leading edge Pa folded inward, even if the paper P is a thin thin paper or the paper leading edge Pa is curled, the paper leading edge Pa is caused by the air pressure. Since the sheet is pressed and extended toward the fifth folding roller 28, the sheet can be properly folded without the sheet leading end Pa being bent at a corner.

[Other configurations]
As described above, in the present invention, the air blowing means 50 is most effective.
Since this is an inner tri-fold, this has been described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the air blowing means 50 is installed only on the second folding tray 26, but in addition, the air blowing means 50 may be installed on the first folding tray 25, Or you may comprise so that the air spraying means 50 may be installed only in the 1st folding tray 25. FIG. In that case, the air blowing means 50 installed on the first folding tray 25 directly acts when the paper is folded in half, but the curved portion of the paper to be folded in half is blown with air (pressure) from the inside of the curved portion. ) Is pressed against the nip portion of the first pair of folding rollers (22, 23) and extended, so that the sheet can be folded with good folding accuracy.

Furthermore, it may be configured such that the air blowing means 50 acts when three or more folding trays are provided and inner four-fold and inner five-fold are performed.

Further, the paper folding apparatus of the present invention can be widely used in any apparatus, not limited to a paper gluing apparatus. For example, the paper folding apparatus may be configured to be used alone, or may be configured to be mounted as a paper post-processing apparatus in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printing machine, a facsimile, or a multifunction machine of these. .

P Paper Pa Folded paper tip 22 Second folding roller 23 Third folding roller 24 Fourth folding roller 26 Second folding tray 26a Second abutting member 50 Air blowing means 51 Air nozzle 52 Pressure adjusting means 53 Control valve 54 Compressed air supply means 55 Air hose

Claims (4)

Paper transport means for transporting paper,
The folding position is determined by abutting the leading edge of the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying means against the first sheet abutting member, and the curved portion including the folding position is sandwiched between the nip portions of the first folding roller pair. Has a configuration of folding
The second folding position is determined by abutting the first folded sheet against the second sheet abutting member, and the curved portion including the folding position is sandwiched between the nip portions of the second folding roller pair. Has a structure that can be folded in three by folding
In the second fold when the inner fold is performed, at least when the paper is folded with the curved portion interposed therebetween, the front end of the paper is folded inward by the first fold from the inside of the curved portion. A paper folding device comprising air blowing means for blowing air toward the head. 2. The paper folding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising continuous air blowing control means for continuously blowing air by the air blowing means during the folding operation of the paper folding apparatus. The air blowing means includes at least an air nozzle for ejecting air, a compressed air supply means for supplying compressed air to the air nozzle, and a pressure adjusting means for adjusting the pressure of the compressed air. Item 3. The paper folding apparatus according to Item 2. Paper transport means for transporting paper,
The folding position is determined by abutting the leading edge of the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying means against the first sheet abutting member, and the curved portion including the folding position is sandwiched between the nip portions of the first folding roller pair. Has a configuration of folding
The second folding position is determined by abutting the first folded sheet against the second sheet abutting member, and the curved portion including the folding position is sandwiched between the nip portions of the second folding roller pair. Has a structure that can be folded in three by folding
In the second folding when the inner fold is performed, after the leading edge of the sheet hits the second sheet abutting member, the sheet is folded inward by the first folding from the inside of the curved portion. A paper folding device comprising air blowing timing control means for blowing air toward the leading end.

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